rebeginning to end
by SesameStreetReject
Summary: Alex has woken up in the 80s again, and before she can recover she is once again thrown into the breach; solving crimes. Only this time, the connection is broken...
1. Chapter 1

Gene sat on the hard, plastic seat and watched her. If he tilted his head it looked like she was sleeping. It had been weeks since he saw her move, and it was beginning to get to him. Three years ago, he'd have been quite happy about this, but now he'd give anything to see her move even if it meant her fist swinging into his face. The lifelessness was what was killing him. Even a twitch would do just to break the monotonous nothing.

He'd been able to get into the hospital almost every day for about a month. When she'd first shot her, one of his ex-colleagues had been sat with her all the time,holding her hand and telling her she'd be okay. But eventually they gave up. First Ray, who'd waited until she was out of surgery before storming off shouting something about 'getting' the bastard'. That 'bastard' was him. Chris had held out for a while longer mainly because he was trying to be there for Shaz. When they split up, he stopped coming. Shaz came to see her mentor almost religiously for the first month. But it was clearly taking it's tole on her. Since Her arrival, Alex had been a role model to Shaz, and for her to see the strong, independent woman she looked up to incarcerated, well, it was too much.

He told himself he kept coming because he didn't want her to be on her own, but it was him who needed the company. That last thought made him laugh. "You're awful company Bols. An' tha' goes for when you're awake as well." Nothing. He'd give anything for her to frown at him now.

Out of all the team, he was the one who did all the proper things. He was the one there when the doctor came to check on her each day; he was the one who looked in her file at the list of people with no means of contacting them. Her doctor said it was the first time in his career he'd seen an incomplete file, but Gene knew Alex. There was something so mysterious, so obviously missing about the women, that he was sure that there really was no way to contact these people. That hadn't stopped him taking a good look into them.

Molly Drake. That was her daughter, he was sure she'd mentioned her a few times. Peter Drake was listed as her ex-husband, and for some reason he felt glad there was no number for him. If he ever got emitted to hospital he most definitely wouldn't want his ex there. Then there was Evan White. Now why was that there? Wasn't he that lawyer bloke she'd had a crush on? To be honest, he hadn't thought about him since 1981, and Alex hadn't mentioned him since that time either, so why was he one of her emergency contacts? The file listed him as her godfather, which calmed Gene considerably. 'Must just be a coincidence'. Last of all was a Daniel Reynolds, who was apparently her 'good friend'. As far as he knew, Alex had never said anything about a Daniel.

So she was on her own, and Gene didn't like that. Her daughter should know about her mother, and so should all the other people who cared for her. But with no hope of finding any of them, he resigned himself to the fact that he must be the one to 'be there' for her. In a way he was glad. This served as his penance. Waiting, for how long he knew not, to rectify the biggest mistake he'd ever made, apart from marrying of course…

Alex stared at the empty lounge. It was so bland. There was no colour to the walls, no personal objects except a few photos, nothing that showed any character. Had she really been that focused on her career? The life she'd been so eager to return to was really devoid of all excitement. For the millionth time that day she wished she was back in... No, stop that Alex. She was glad she was here. She was, she was. Only she wasn't. She'd wished so much to get back that once she had, things had gone flat. She had been so happy to wake up, see Molly, but then she'd returned to her life. Her dull, empty life.

Turning back to the kitchen, she went to make herself a cup of tea to fill the time. Switching on the kettle, she reflected on the past year she'd spent in her 'real world'. There had been so much to do at first. Finally after 27 years, she'd had it out with Evan over the truth of her parent's death. When she came straight out with it he'd been so shocked he barely managed to deny it before she began shouting. Not a word had been spoken between them since, though Mols kept in contact with him, just like with her dad, Pete. That was the other thing. Pete had come back to 'keep an eye on Molly whilst she recuperated'. To him, her recuperation lasted six months, and in one month bursts since then. Alex felt she coped well when Molly was with her. When she wasn't though, that was when the loneliness set in and she found herself longing for those wonderful days so long ago. Wincing at coming back, yet again, to the eighties, she decided she would go for a walk. Nagging at the back of her mind was the slight pain in her temples…

The thing Shaz hated about the whole thing was the guilt. Not about the shooting, that had been nothing to do with her. No, it was the fact that she'd not visited the Ma'am in hospital for weeks, that was like a knife in her every time she saw the empty desk in the corner of CID. It would have literally been a knife in her if it wasn't for the Ma'am that would have her in the ground right now she knew, Chris had told her about how she saved her life. When Shaz had been in hospital, Ma'am had visited often. She had been a good friend when her friend was in need. And now Shaz had bailed on her.

So about three months after the shooting, Shaz once again found herself walking down that eerie, echoing corridor towards her immobile role model. Before she entered the cubicle, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a slight movement, and being hopeful she dashed in, only to find Alex still comatose.

"Just your imagination Shaz," she told herself. She was just about to sit down when the bed pan resting on the bedside table clattered to the floor. She screamed and leapt backwards, gripping the curtain rail for support. As the curtain slid with her, she unearthed Gene's hiding place…

The pain was swelling around her forehead now so that she had to screw her eyes shut to focus. Wishing she'd never come out, she needed to focus to get herself home. Think Alex, this shouldn't be happening, something is wrong here, so either pull yourself together or ask for help. But there was no one around, even though she was walking in the middle of London. 'Shit, Alex. You are pretty seriously screwed.'…

"You." When Shaz spoke it was dripping with menace. Standing up, she surveyed him with something that could only be conceived as contempt. "Come to finish her off then."

"No as it 'appens Granger, I came to visit a friend of mine, something I have been alone in doing for about the last two months." For a second Shaz looked stumped, before her confusion was replaced with rage.

"How dare you lecture me when you're the one who put her here in the first place. I should call Chris and Ray down here right now and get them to arrest you."…

Alex made it to her front gate when it hit her. A wave of nausea swept over her, and she found she was no longer able to move. Trying to gulp in some oxygen to her stricken brain, she realised that the air around her was thick like syrup, and she seemed to be drowning in it. Panicking, she dropped to her knees, before the twisted, distorted voices floated over to her through this dystopia.

"I should remind you Granger.." That was Gene. She could recognise his Manchester accent anywhere, even 27 years after she was supposed to. Which could mean only one thing.

'Oh God,' she thought, 'I'm waking up'.

"No, no, NO! You listen to me!" That was Shaz, and she sounded angrier than Alex had ever heard her. She couldn't be going back, she wasn't supposed to. Once she got home she wasn't meant to ever leave 2009.

'Great, I'm waking up to an argument.' Light filled the edges of her vision, and she no longer felt like her feet were on the floor, in fact, she felt unaware of her whereabouts at all. Her lungs suddenly became full of air, and she was aware that it was forcing itself in through a mask on her face. Fearful and confused, she opened her eyes…

"I don't care what you have to say, woman, I'm telling you to-"

"How dare you-"

"What was that?"

"Oh my God, get a doctor, she's waking up!"

"She's trying to say something."

"Uh… Both.. of you.. shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

Had she not been both physically and mentally exhausted from time travelling yet again, the looks on their faces would have been priceless to her. Shaz's eyebrows were raised so they were touching her hairline, whereas Gene was gaping, something she'd never seen him do. Before either one of them could rearrange their faces, she felt the fear of a few seconds ago return. She was back. Back in the 1980s. Back in the time when she was supposed to be a child, back in the 20th century. Worst of all, she was back without Molly. She had left her again.

Again, her lungs seemed incapable of functioning. The monitor on her right side went crazy, sounding out an alarm which had the nurses there in seconds. Her vision blurred, but not enough that she didn't catch Gene's look of horror before he was pushed aside. Everything was a burst of movement, and sounds were bombarding her eardrums. 'Holy crap. Why can't I ever breath?'

"Alex, Alex can you hear me? My name is Doctor Temm, and you are in hospital. You've just woken up from a coma, so you're in shock. Your lungs aren't used to breathing on their own just yet, so could you focus all your attention on breathing for me?" Alex managed to gulp some oxygen, and immediately she felt calmer. "That's it, you're doing great." Dr Temm smiled at her, before turning to a nurse. "Can you make sure Alex gets all the right medication, I'm just going to get the consultant down here." Returning to Alex, "right, you seem to be a lot more stable now, so I'm going to get my superior so we can properly assess your situation."

Alex nodded as best she could, and then searched the room for a familiar face. Her recently re-inflated lungs were tested as Shaz came bounding over and enveloped her in a hug.

"Oh my goodness Ma'am, I'm so happy you're awake. You don't know how awful it's been without you." Alex smiled weakly while politely trying to untangle herself from her over exuberant friend.

"Glad to be back," she lied.

"Erm…" The noise came from the corner where Gene was watching uneasily. His heart was still pounding from moments ago, and he didn't quite trust himself to speak, however he knew he had to. 'Get a grip idiot, you've been waiting for this moment for three months. Just say something'. "I… er… well… bloody hell Bolls, trust you to come back like a drama queen eh?" 'Idiot! She's just woken up from a coma **you **put her in, and all you can do is insult her'.

'Well, lucky me, Gene hasn't changed a bit'. "Charming as ever, Gene." Now watching from the visitor's chairs, Shaz's brow furrowed with confusion. Where was the yelling, the shouting, the insults and accusations? Why was the Ma'am talking so calmly to the man who **shot** her? And then it clicked.

"He didn't mean to shoot you…" she said in almost a whisper, partly because she couldn't believe it and partly because she was ashamed.

"Yes, Shaz dear, do keep up." Gene smiled at Alex. The sarcasm had returned, meaning that so was Alex.

"Yeah, bout that…er…" 'Just tell her you're sorry, get over your stupid pride' "It was technicly' an accident, so don't be gettin' any ideas bout suing me or nothing." 'Shit'

Alex frowned. Only a few minutes of this world and already she was getting weary of Gene. She had thought that the shooting might make him less arrogant, but apparently not. He hadn't even apologised yet.

"I'm getting quite tired Gene, and if all you're going to do is discuss legal matters then I'd prefer it if you…"

"If I what?"

"If you buggered off and left me alone!"

For the second time that day, Shaz and Gene adopted expressions of shock. Alex gave Shaz an apologetic look, and Shaz graciously left and told her she'd visit soon. Gene stood there for a while whilst Alex averted her eyes, then he stormed out. He wasn't angry at her, hell, she had a right to be pissed, he'd bloody shot her. No, it was himself he was annoyed at, because after all the months of waiting, hoping and planning, he'd messed up his chance to say sorry in the space of five minutes.

DISCLAIMER I do not own any of the Ashes To Ashes characters, just wish I did.

I have desided not to do any beta-ing because I am not that commited.


	3. Chapter 3

The next three days passed in a blur of activity in a routine that Alex found herself growing almost used to, having gone through it in 2008. The doctor had run a multitude of tests, explained to her over again what they had had to do to her and how that would affect her now, and finally about her medication. She was dosed up to the eyeballs on drugs whose names she could not pronounce, and would have to take funny little pills whose colour reminded her of sweets regularly for the next few weeks.

Then there'd been the steady stream of officers, who had all started by wishing her good health before immediately pressing her on the details of that fateful day. Within hours, the case against Gene had been dropped, and they told her they'd update her on any further developments. Their presence had somewhat annoyed her, so she was glad when she'd finally seen a familiar face.

As soon as they'd been allowed to they'd come to her; Ray, Chris, Shaz, even Viv, but conspicuous by his absence was Gene. Maybe she should feel guilty about their little spat, but at the moment she was too confused to worry about him she told herself as she folded her belongings away into her bag. Her discharge papers had just been signed, and after once again thanking the staff she was trying not to spend a minute longer than necessary in the hospital.

She couldn't wait to be back in the quiet of her flat, the place that she had found to be her haven over the past few years. Finished packing, she knew what she had to do; she had to drag her feet one step at a time out of here. Step out of the hospital, out of the taxi, into Luigi's, past all her friends smiling and cheering, through the embrace of a very tearful Luigi and finally up the stairs, where she found herself once again outside that door. Alex breathed a sigh of relief, and fumbled for her keys, desperately awaiting the cool, dark and a glass of wine on the other side. Little did she know, she was not going to get that.

Gene was angry with himself, but that had been his constant mode of being since the shooting so he was used to it. What he was not used to was acting upon that anger; finding a solution; solving the problem. Before, it had been a case of waiting for her to wake up, which was up to the doctors. Now he had to sort their broken relationship, and he had no clue where to start. The risky idea itself had come to him whilst half way through a pint at Luigi's. It was so easy to put it into action; he'd known where the spare key was for years, and as soon as Luigi had his attention on a customer, he was up there like a flash and unlocking the door to her flat.

All that action, all the thoughts; that had been the easy part. Now he had to sit and wait for her to turn up, and that was the problem. His doubts and fears about the success of his plan quickly surfaced, and he realised he needed to decide what he would say to her first. But what could he say? Where to start?

Well, first he should apologise for being a dick the other day. He hadn't meant to be so cold, he just wanted the old banter back. Then he would apologise for shooting her, and hopefully she would be so stunned by his two apologies in such quick succession that she would be calmer than before. Hopefully being the operative word. Then.. well, he wasn't sure. All the questions that had been bugging him for the past month resurfaced. How had she been involved with Operation Rose? Who was the man he had shot in the square? Why had she been there when he'd told her not to be (he already partly knew the answer to this; because she was bloody stubborn)? And what had all that crap about the future been about?

He tormented himself for around two hours before he heard the tell-tale signs that his wait was over; footsteps on the other side…

A bit of a filler chapter leading up to 'the stand off'. Tell me what you think or not...

Disclaimer; I own none of the Ashes To Ashes characters...


	4. Chapter 4

Alex opened the door, but the wave of relief she had been anticipating did not wash over her, more over the only thing that did was a smell that she knew was the reason for her continued feelings of anxiety. She smelt what she had always called 'fag stench', a trace of beer and what Gene called 'man stink'. Knowing what was waiting for her around the corner, she set her jaw and let the anger she had been feeling towards That Damn Man re-emerge.

"Bols.. er, hi." She stood there looking at him, arms crossed and eyebrows raised in a position he was sure his mother used to adopt when he had done something particularly, as she put it, 'Gene-ish'. Shaking that image from his head, he launched into the planned part of his speech. "Look, about that stuff I said at the hospital the other day, you know I was just dicking about, an' I'm sorry that I was being a nob when I should have been saying what I'm about to." He took a deep breath, and in that second gaging her reaction. Her eyebrows had risen even higher, something he had thought impossible. "Um, well, I'm sorry for lining yer gut with lead, I din't mean to, and well, I know you know I din't mean to from what you told the inquiry, which I am right grateful for, but I just thought I should say it to you in person." Once finished, he looked up, expecting her to say something along the lines of 'I forgive you', so what came next was a bit of a shock.

"What the hell are you doing in my flat?"

"Eh?"

"You heard."

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting."

"Oh, no, you're right. I bet you thought at this point we'd be hugging each other, laughing and joking, all wrongs righted and forgotten?"

"Well, yeah, but then again I forgot you weren't a normal person."

"Oh yes, because a normal person would just skip back to being 'best buds' with you after all that you said to me, after you bloody shot me, and then after YOU DRAG ME BACK ACROSS 26 YEARS!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON ABOUT WOMAN!"

"I was HOME, Gene, HOME! Where I wanted to be, and you had to bloody well bring me back."

"Oh, I see. It's this bollocks about the future again-"

"It is not bollocks Gene, it's the truth! Are you too narrow bloody minded to see that-"

"Well excuse me for being a SANE person!"

"Urgh, what is the point! Just get out of here Hunt, I don't want to see you again."

"Well, tough titties Drake, because I want you back to work on Monday. And don't you even think of staying off ill on account of being shot."

And with that he was gone, billowing out the door and leaving her speechless. After a few minutes of standing stock still, she grabbed a glass off the table and threw it at the wall. That was something she had never done; it'd been a habit of her ex-husband's every time they'd had a row, and she'd never condoned it. But Gene drove her so crazy she just needed to. And she was pretty damn pissed at herself for that matter. Why hadn't she just accepted his apology? It would have made life here so much easier. Yes, it would have annoyed her that he thought a few words could heal the massive rift between them, but it would have been less of a hassle than the great canyon she seemed to have opened now.

Gene sat in his office brooding, bottle of scotch hanging in his slack left hand. He'd tried to reach out to her, to show her that he was sorry. Hell, he'd been more emotional and open with her than he'd ever been with anyone else, and what did the ungrateful cow do? Shout at him and bang on about the bloody future. He stared at her desk and heaved a sigh. That row; that had signified the end. The end of the A-Team, the end of the Unbreakable Pair. He hoped he was wrong, he really did, but he could see no way back from this for him and Alex.


End file.
